Writer Victoria Amelina Posthumously Awarded the Moore Prize

Victoria Amelina, who was killed in 2023 during a Russian shelling of Kramatorsk, was posthumously awarded the Moore Prize for human rights literature for 2025.

This was announced on the prize’s official website, reports Ukrainska Pravda Culture.

The author’s unfinished book Looking at Women Looking at War: A War and Justice Diary was recognized as the best human rights book published between July 2024 and June 2025.

“Victoria Amelina’s account of Russian war crimes in Ukraine is a stark reminder of the sacrifice of a journalist driven by a passion for exposing the truth about lives shattered by the Russian invasion.”

The book stands as a testament to Amelina’s courage, which drew attention to the devastating effects of the war on Ukrainians. Amid the vast amount of propaganda and disinformation, her legacy remains an important record of what has happened and continues to happen. “I am pleased with the jury’s decision, which was difficult given the exceptional quality of the books on the shortlist,” said the prize’s founder, Christopher Moore.

Amelina announced the book at the 29th BookForum in Lviv. She explained that she was writing the book in English about Ukrainian women who are “trying in various ways to achieve justice.”

The book’s heroines include: Truth Hounds documenter with the callsign “Casanova,” reporters Yevheniia Podobna and Vira Kuryko-Ahienko, human rights defenders Oleksandra Matviychuk, Larysa Denysenko, and Kateryna Rashevska, historian Olena Stiazhkina, writer Svitlana Povaliaieva, director of the Kharkiv Literary Museum Tetiana Pylypchuk, librarian Yulia Kakulia-Danyliuk, lawyer and military officer Yevheniia Zakrevska, civic activist Iryna Dovhan, and poet and former wife of the murdered writer Volodymyr Vakulenko, Iryna Novitska. Their photos for the book were taken by Yulia Kochetova.

Victoria did not manage to finish the book – she died in 2023 as a result of the injuries she sustained in Kramatorsk. However, her relatives and colleagues Tetiana Teren, Yaryna Hrusha, Sasha Dovzhyk, and Oleksandr Amelin were able to publish the book. It was compiled from manuscripts, audio recordings, and notes.

Victoria Amelina’s book was published by William Collins, with a foreword written by Margaret Atwood.

The Moore Prize is awarded for non-fiction works that explore themes of dignity, freedom, and human rights. This year’s jury included journalist Clare Hammond, Human Rights Watch Asia director Elaine Pearson, and Vilnius University professor Dainius Pūras.

Earlier, Victoria Amelina was posthumously awarded the George Orwell Prize for her book Looking at Women Looking at War.

Victoria Amelina was a Ukrainian writer and public figure, who became a laureate of the Joseph Conrad-Korzeniowski Literary Prize and a nominee for the Central European Angelus Literary Award.

After the full-scale invasion began, Victoria paused writing fiction and joined the organization Truth Hounds to document human rights violations.

She also participated in charitable trips organized by Ukrainian PEN to deoccupied territories.

Victoria Amelina was injured during a missile strike on a café in Kramatorsk on June 27, 2023. At the time, she was accompanying a delegation of writers and journalists from Colombia on a trip to eastern Ukraine.

Despite the efforts of doctors, Victoria passed away on July 1, 2023.